Welcome Debbie Walker!

I have known Debbie for a few years through our children playing sport together. During a recent conversation, I found out she was out of work so suggested joining me on my little adventure! After a couple of conversations, she was convinced and we haven’t looked back.

So, I thought it was about time that we did a formal introduction:

“I have spent many years working in the IT industry, ten years of which were in London working in Investment Banks. I had my son (almost 14 years ago now) which rather stopped the commuting, and my 5am starts to catch the train were replaced with 5am starts with my baby!  After 18 months I returned to work and the latter part of my career saw me moving from Service Delivery and into the world of IT Recruitment.  

On the 23rd December last year, our world was flipped upside down when we sadly lost my father. Supporting my mother and my son through the darkest of times, whilst navigating the uncharted waters of my own grief, was truly the hardest thing I have ever done. Then to top it all off, in February I “lost my job” due to an organisational restructure. This is when things changed and the light started to shine through.

I manage a fantastic group of 14 year old lads who play for Gosport and Fareham Rugby club. One of my fellow age group managers is the wonderful Clare Shaw. We got talking about Dad, the hurt, the job loss etc and she was amazing. She let me talk, she let me vent, she let me cry! Then, we got talking about CSKidsBooks and now here I am, working alongside Clare supporting her with the B2B activities for her. This has to be the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Its emotional at times, but her books are so beautifully written and to know that they can help kids through such confusion and at times very painful periods in their little lives is what matters.”

As you can imagine, a complete change for Debbie but she has been doing some amazing things since joining me back in February. One of the main projects she’s been working on is around corporate sponsorship that will enable us to give books to schools for free! We are working in partnership with The Kaleidoscope Plus Group, a national mental health charity, and hope to cover the whole of the UK with mental wellbeing books as soon as possible!

If you’re interested in finding out more about this initiative, Debbie would love to hear from you. Please email debbie@cskidsbooks.com.